February 16, 2018 | International, Aerospace, C4ISR
Airbus has revealed that it is exploring the introduction of military derivatives of the A320neo family.
Speaking at the Singapore air show, Fernando Alonso, head of military aircraft at Airbus Defence & Space, said that the new platform could undertake missions such as VIP transport, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance and maritime patrol.
"We have the knowledge of converting the A330 into the A330 MRTT [multirole tanker transport], and have a more efficient process."
Alonso says that the efficiency of new-generation engines will enable a more capable military derivative. Any future conversion will require between "six to eight months" to complete, he says.
Airbus is in talks with a number of operators, including the armed forces of Asia-Pacific nations such as Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, alongside European stalwarts France, Germany and the Netherlands.
The airframer is also working to add new capabilities to its existing military platforms: the A400M, A330 MRTT and C295.
It will allow A400M operators to drop up to 60 paratroopers from both sides of the aircraft simultaneously, while the A330 MRTT is expected to be ready to conduct automatic air-to-air refuelling "in less than three years". Airbus is also exploring the possibility of allowing the remodelled widebody to take on ISR missions.
Airbus is still proceeding with an "armed version" of the C295 medium transport, with the derivative in the engineering, development and testing phase. Flight tests will begin in late 2018.
"There are big opportunities for us in Asia-Pacific: big fleets are here, budgets are here. We are able to fulfill needs in a more agile way," says Alonso.
June 11, 2024 | International, Security
Opinion: More than half of leaders who have implemented AI say that it's helped accelerate incident response times, highlighting the technology's potential.
February 15, 2021 | International, Naval, C4ISR, Security
Mark Pomerleau CORRECTION: A previous version of this story misidentified the organization soliciting white papers as the Naval Information Warfare Systems Command. WASHINGTON — The Navy is searching for solutions from industry that can fill needed gaps in cyber warfare capabilities to secure weapon systems and exploit cyberspace. The Naval Air Systems Command Cyber Warfare Detachment is looking for white papers for research and development efforts on resilient cyber warfare capabilities, according to a Feb. 11 posting to a government contracting website. The proposals should offer advancements or improvements to fill gaps, the notice stated, listing eight buckets of technological interests: Size-, weight- and power-sensitive cyber resiliency for real-time operating systems and aviation warfare environment Access point identification, prioritization and defense Cyber-electronic warfare convergent capabilities Full acquisition cycle cybersecurity measures Cyber test, inspection and incident response concepts Cyber warning system techniques Cyber fault, risk and threat assessment methodologies Resilient network concepts NAVAIR provided a more in-depth list of 36 specific areas, including full-spectrum cyber response and enablement capabilities for multiple weapon system kill chains, sacrificial infrastructure and reactive cyber “armor,” deceptive/misinformation software and hardware capabilities, threat attribution, identification and geolocation, software defined radio protections and capabilities networking, tools for weapon system cyber protection teams for incident response and inspection, and suppression and discovery of malware command and control mechanisms to include triggering, reconnaissance and logic bombs. The command will accept responses until Feb. 10, 2022, and review them quarterly. The next phase of the program will be by invitation. https://www.c4isrnet.com/cyber/2021/02/11/navwar-looking-for-emerging-cyber-research-and-development/
June 30, 2020 | International, Aerospace
Les forces aériennes gendarmerie (FAG) acquerront dix hélicoptères H160 et deviendront ainsi les premiers opérateurs étatiques de l'appareil, après les marins français, qui utiliseront quatre H160 loués. Air & Cosmos du 29 juin 2020